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Considering retiring and wondering when your colleagues across the federal government are making the big decision?
A new report by the Office of Personnel Management examines retirement trends in the federal government over the past three years. On average, the retirement age has ticked up slightly over the past three years from 61.5 years old in 2015 to 61.8 in 2017.
Here are some other highlights of that report:
Gender: Men and women are retiring at about the same age—61.5 and 61.1 years old, respectively.
State: While the average retirement age range is 60 to 62, federal employees in Hawaii, Maryland and Massachusetts tend to stop working slightly later than those in Alabama, Alaska and Pennsylvania.
Agency: Among NTEU-represented agencies, the average age for retirement is approximately 62, except for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, where the average retirement age rose from 61.4 in 2016 to 67.5 in 2017. The Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Election Commission also had higher average retirement ages, 63.8 and 64.8, respectively.
Occupational Category: Professional workers are retiring the latest, at 62.7 years old, with clerical and technical workers close behind. The “other white collar” category—which include legal and kindred jobs—has the youngest average age by far, at 54.7 years old.
Regardless of when you decide to retire, NTEU believes that all federal employees deserve a well-funded and secure pension. And remember, you are encouraged to remain a member of NTEU. The union Is a fierce defender of federal employee retirement benefits and fights repeated efforts on Capitol Hill to gut them. Learn more about our efforts